BOOKMARK January 2024 Book recommendations
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January Titles
All books are available from Waterstones in Perth and Adventure Into Books in Blairgowrie.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
(Transworld Publishers Ltd, 2023)
Fiction
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (ISBN: 9781804990926, paperback). This is the story of Elizabeth Zott. Set in 1950s America, Elizabeth is a brilliant and beautiful chemist. She overcomes tragedy, misogyny, plagiarism and social prejudice at every turn. But as her academic career stalls an unlikely TV career blossoms. The story delivers power punches of emotion and tension, lightened with just the right amount of humour and the exceptional observations of Elizabeth’s fabulous dog, Six-Thirty.
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
(Harper Collins, 2023)
Fiction
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie (ISBN: 978000856, hardback; paperback is out in February). With more than a little nod to Stella Gibbon’s Cold Comfort Farm, Penny Rush is trying her hardest to sort out proper care for her grandparents (much to the disgust of her irascible and armed grandmother), while also dealing with the aftermath of an ill-judged marriage and the continuing mystery of her parents’ disappearance. This is funny, romantic, sad and, at times, perilous – there is also definitely something nasty lurking in this grannie’s shed!
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
(Little Brown Book, 2015)
Fiction
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (ISBN: 9780349141077, paperback), which was recommended to me as a modern-day retelling of George Elliot’s Silas Marner. AJ Fikry is a bookseller in modern day America, rather than a weaver in early-19th Century England. AJ has become isolated, morose and self-destructive, following the tragic loss of his wife. But like Silas, he is saved when a toddler is unexpectedly left in his care.
Paper Cup by Karen Campbell
(Canongate, 2023)
Fiction
The BOOKMARK, Book of the Year 2023 winner: Paper Cup by Karen Campbell (ISBN: 9781838855109, paperback). Kelly is living a precarious, desperately raw life on the streets of Glasgow, when a chance encounter sets her on a path of physical and redemptive pilgrimage towards her home town in Dumfriesshire. There’s guilt, loathing, kindness and love; there are baddies, brilliant pals and a dog called Collieflower. It’s a book that gets under your skin.
Miss Blaine’s Prefect & the Gondola of Doom by Olga Wojtas
(Saraband, 2024)
Fiction
Olga Wojtas new book: Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Gondola of Doom (ISBN: 9781913393878, paperback). This is the fourth outing for the enthusiastic, highly accomplished (occasionally clueless), time-travelling, librarian-cum-detective, Shona. This time she is in Venice, investigating the watery disappearance of a number of unfortunate gondolier passengers. Can she solve the clues in time? Always a fun and welcome, escapist delight.
Nature Tales for Winter Nights by Nancy Campbell
(Elliot & Thompson, 2023)
Short Stories
Nature Tales for Winter Nights edited by Nancy Campbell (ISBN: 9781783967421, hardback). More non-fiction than otherwise, this has a delightful selection of observations and musings about nature in this stark season: from a gardener dreaming of cabbages, to childhood memories of an emerald-green iceberg, and the swirling energy of a solstice murmuration across the Sommerset levels.
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
(Penguin Classics, 2003)
Classics
The Mayor of Casterbridge was my suggestion (ISBN: 9780141439785, paperback), which covers all bases.
Pocket Poets edition of Burns by Robert Burns
(Everyman's Library, 2006)
Poetry
Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets edition of Burns (ISBN:9781841597768, hardback, which has many of his most famous poems.
A Handsel: New & Collected Poems by Liz Lochhead
(Birlinn, 2023)
Poetry
Liz Lochhead: A Handsel: New & Collected Poems